Type Private company Founder Miles Warren Headquarters Christchurch, New Zealand | Industry Architecture Founded 1955 | |
Website www.warrenandmahoney.com Profiles | ||
Warren and Mahoney is a multi-disciplinary architectural practice - one of the few third generation architectural practices in the history of New Zealand architecture.
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History
The practice was founded by Miles Warren in 1955, and with the award of the Dental Nurses Training School (now known as Central Nurses' Training School) Miles sought the assistance of his fellow atelier colleague Maurice Mahoney. In 1958, the partnership of Warren and Mahoney was established.
The partnership created a distinctive form of architecture utilising a modern, brutalist style (described by Warren himself as "constructivist") involving widespread use of concrete and harsh geometric shapes. Several of their buildings in this style are now regarded among the highlights of New Zealand modernism: Christchurch Town Hall, Harewood Crematorium, College House and Canterbury Students' Union being but a few. The style was influential within New Zealand, being a partial inspiration for Ted McCoy's Archway Lecture Theatre complex at the University of Otago, among other works.
The first departure from this style was Christchurch's Robert Jones House (Forsyth Barr Building). According to historian Geoffrey Rice, many architects regard this building as Warren and Mahoney's "ugly duckling", and Paul Walker, professor of architecture at the University of Melbourne, asks: "Does anyone love the monolithic Forsyth Barr building on Colombo Street...?"
Warren and Mahoney designs are found in other centres throughout New Zealand, most notably those of Wellington's Michael Fowler Centre and Bowen House in Wellington and Auckland's Television New Zealand building. Sir Miles Warren and Maurice Mahoney retired in the early 1990s.
Now a third generation multi-disciplinary practice with offices presently in Christchurch, Auckland, Queenstown, Wellington, Sydney and Melbourne, the practice has constructed projects around the pacific rim. Several works were destroyed and more still damaged by the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.